S A Barton's Page

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"It does make sense. I know that psychologically prayer makes a big difference in some people's day-to-day lives (although I can't say I ever felt much more than guilt at not doing it right or doing it enough). I never really knew of a…"

"The praying thing... yeah, a lot of folks put a lot of stock in it, and sometimes it really is hard to hear everyone talking about it without thinking 'gee, maybe I should too'. Same for the god's will over my life…"

"You too, thanks for taking the time to write about it. I never thought of it as a counter-obsession, but I know what you mean. I am just now really coming out of it, I think, and learning to live life for its own sake. I still feel guilty for not…"

"It's been my experience that seeking the truth is what keeps me sober, so I think you definitely can. :-) The part of the book you describe is exactly the core of sobriety in my view... the so-called (and accurately so, once you…"

"Thank you so much for this post. I have been in AA for several years and only recently admitted to myself that I don't believe. I relate so much to what you're saying, it's almost like when I was trying to get sober and couldn't…"

"I had a lot more issue with this in Ohio than here in Seattle. Ohio AA tends to be less tolerant of atheism.
I think the literature is pretty reasonable when it comes to being agnostic, but doesn't accept that others (such as myself) are…"

We debate origins of the Universe, life, Earth, humans, religion, atheism, using common sense, evolution, cosmology, geology, archaeology, and other sciences, to repel biblical creationism and other religious beliefs.

"I've gotten the temperature drop too, but more often I just get slightly concerned looks from folks who wonder if my non-religious experience is 'enough' for continued sobriety. A few ask me questions, most don't. My sponsor is a…"

"I agree with what you say but it's often difficult to get AA members to show tolerance towards that view. Sometimes I feel the temperature in the room drop by several degrees if I speak my mind.
By the way, have you read Hitchens on the…"

"There's some good info here, but the discussion is pretty old. So I thought I would give it a bump... any old blogging dogs out there learn any new tricks since the last response?
I tweet my posts ( @Tao23 )... not a giant traffic getter, but…"

"I run a blog called The Tao Of Chaos. The posts mostly end up being 'how I deal with emotion/concept/event in a productive way' and generally come out of my experience as an Atheist and philisophical Taoist in a 12-step recovery program."

The concept of a 'spiritual experience' is one that gets all tied up in religious concepts among AAs... because most AAs are religious to one degree or another. But all 'spiritual' means is relating to the human spirit, it need not refer to 'souls' or other magical/mystical concepts. Throughout history humans have had a tendency to attach supernatural significance to anything intangible, but a 'spirit' describes nothing but the way one approaches life, the totality of emotion and thought and…See More